Alien Resurrection

Those who witnessed Arizonas personal X-File -- the Phoenix Lights sighted over Nevada, Arizona, and northern Mexico on the evening of March 13, 1997 -- have had to choose between what they saw with their own eyes and what governmental agencies subsequently told them they didnt.

The makers of The Appearance of a Man, a new film based (extremely loosely) on the Phoenix Lights, took a third route: They just made stuff up as they went along.

Unlike the 2008 documentary The Phoenix Lights . . . We Are Not Alone, which targeted at latter-day Fox Mulders, Appearance of a Man couldnt care less if you believe  at least not in aliens. Director/writer/producer Daniel Pace and company used the Lights as a jumping-off point, transforming the putative UFO caravan into a theological train of angels along the lines of Wings of Desire meets The Da Vinci Code. Says one critic, Appearance is not a pseudo-scientific tract, a standard flying-saucer drama, or a piece of New Age dogma; its a chase film in the classic tradition.

The flick, featuring an all-Arizona cast and crew, has its official coming-out party at Harkins Valley Art. Pace and company will participate in a Q&A following the screening.